Torture
by Trafalgar Neo
Summary: "Let me go right now!" Lena shrieked from hanging over Benn's shoulder. Shanks bend down so he could look at her. With a devilish grin he said, "Not going to happen. You are now my hostage." Slow burn
1. Alone

Alone

Lena sighed as she walked along the dirt streets of the small island village. She was doing her best not to listen to the people around her. It was always the same each time she came into town for supplies. And that was always twice a month. She hated it. But it was necessary to come here for her survival. She needed food. This year hasn't been a wet one. So her homegrown crops weren't thriving like they needed to. She had no choice but to come into town to get something to eat. So she had no choice but to listen to all the harsh jabs people always gave her.

"Oh, look out. Here comes the woman _doctor_," one man said with a laugh.

"She can operate on me anytime," another man said. She knew he meant that with sexual intention. It was obvious in his tone. And even more obvious in his hungry, leering gaze as she walked by the group talking about her. She never thought herself as pretty or attractive. She thought she was just ordinary. And every day twenty six year old woman who wanted to be a doctor, but on this island she would never be allow to practice her medical skills. All because she was a woman. And because of her bizarre healing ability that passed down through her family. But mostly because she was a woman.

"You say that now," Amanda said. Lena glanced at the tall black haired woman poking fun at her. She has known Amanda since they were little kids. Amanda was the type to always have guys hanging around her, tall, beautiful, high cheekbones, an elegant walk that taunted both unmarried and married men. She was everything that Lena wasn't. "But you won't later when she botches up your operation."

Lena gripped her hands into a tight fist. She knew this woman was actually talking about her skills. Amanda didn't believe she had any. But she did. She had the skills to perform many operations. She might not have been the most skilled doctor in the world, but she was skilled enough to help with the issues that popped up on this island. The inhabitants of this island just never would let her use her skill to help anyone. Only because she was a woman.

"Someone help! Help!" a small, scared little voice called out. "My sister was attacked by a stray dog! She's bleeding! Someone! Please help her! She's going to die!"

Lena looked up. Her heart broke into two when she saw the smaller girl who had cried out for help. The little girl was holding up her older sister. Both were covered in blood from the attack, but only the older girl was hurt. She wanted to help. But she hammered down her doctor instincts and just watched as a few men from the village rushed over to the two girls. It was painful to just stand there and watch. The girl had clearly lost a lot of blood.

"Hurry up! This girl needs medical attention!" a man said.

"Someone alert the doctor! We're bring the girl to him!" another man said while the first man picked up the injured girl in his arms. She watched, silently hurting deep inside, as the men rushed off with the girl.

"What's wrong, Lena?" Amanda asked. "Why didn't you help? You're a _doctor_ after all."

Lena chose to ignore the woman and continued to walk on passed the group taunting her. There was no point in trying to talk to them. No one ever listened to her. She did her best to block out their jibes as she walked away from them with heavy footsteps.

Soon they faded on the wind as she made her way out of the village and onto the small, worn path that lead up to her small, humble little home that was left to her by her grandfather. The world around her blurred as she continued on her way up the winding path. Despite never going into town anymore but only twice a month, she still knew the path well enough to walk it blind if she had to. She used to walk this path many times with her grandfather. But now it was just her, all alone in the small house that over looked the village that did nothing but taunt her for having a different dream than the rest of the women on this island. She hated it here. She wanted to leave, but had nowhere to go. She didn't have enough money to pay someone to take her away from here. And she didn't have any sailing skills to sail any kind of ship. She was stuck. Suck in this horrible torture of never being able to use her skills.

With a heavy sigh, Lena pushed open the wooden door to her small house and entered into the dark room. She didn't bother to turn on the light. She just walked into the kitchen and put her groceries away. A few fruits, a bottle of milk, and bread was all she got. It only took two minutes to put them in their respectful places before she turned and headed out the door. Since she had nothing else to do she decided to go for a walk along the beach. It was something she did often. And sometimes it helped. It reminded her that there was a world beyond this island, beyond all of this torture.

Skirting around the house, she wandered down another small, worn path. This one was decorated with small colorful flowers, broken limbs, and dull green grass. They didn't have their normal vibrate fragrance do to the lack of rain. But the path was cool with the limbs covering overhead. So she didn't mind the lack of scent she usually got from the flowers.

Rustling in the bushes nearby made her heart pick up sped. Pirates had been seen in the area lately. Usually they were no big deal when they did come to this island. Not much was here so they never had any reason to hurt anyone unless provoked. And no one here had a habit of provoking pirates, at least no pirate that had a huge bounty on his or her heads. The village usually bowed down easily to pirates until they left. Then they would talk about how horrible the pirates were. Cowards. That's all this village was. Nothing but a bunch of spineless cowards. But then she wasn't one to talk. She too had stopped sticking up for herself a long time ago. She wondered how much longer she would be able to survive like this. No family, no friends, no one to talk to.

The rustling came closer. She dug her shoes into the dirt, ready to run if it was needed. But then three dogs popped out of the bushes. All happy barks and wagging tails as they ran up to greet her. "You guys. I should have known it was you."

They were her neighbor's dogs. One male and two females that always had a habit of following her when she went for one of her lonely walks. She didn't mind at all. She enjoyed the company since it was typically the only company she ever had. They would run around, chasing near by wildlife, or sniff the familiar scents of the island, but would always return to her side before taking off again. Sometimes it felt like they _knew_ she was alone and lonely. They always made her smile when they were around.

"Hm, maybe I should get a dog. At least they're nicer than people," she grumbled while the oldest of the females butted her head against her hand for a friendly pet. She couldn't help but chuckle. She bent down to stroke the dog's ears. "Does that mean I have your approval? Are you agreeing with me that dogs are way friendlier than people? You're such a sweetheart. I really should consider getting a dog. I can easily adopt a stray that roams the island."

Lena smiled when the other two dogs ran over to get petted as well. With the three energetic dogs rubbing against her, she was outnumbered and fell back on the ground. She laughed as the dogs licked her faces and rubbed wildly against her. Their owners were nicer than a lot of the other people on the island, but they weren't her friends. She didn't have any friends. She was a freak, an oddball, and a woman who wanted to be a doctor.

The only friend she ever had, besides the dogs, was her grandfather. And he passed away six months ago. Now she was alone. She was alone with a gift that was meant to help people. Her grandfather was helping her with that. He was a semi-retired doctor and was teaching her to be the same. The villagers loved and trust him, just not her. Unlike her, he was a man and he didn't have this gift that passed through their family. No one knew why, but the gift seemed to favor females over males.

And it didn't always appear in all generations. Sometimes it would skip one generation, sometimes it would skip ten or more. Her family wasn't even sure where it came from. There were several stories of where this gift came from. One story calmed they were chosen by God to wield this gift. Another claimed it came from a fairy when one of their ancestors' helped a fairy in disguise. Others claim it was from a strange plant an ancestor used to treat a cold he had. Some claimed it was an extremely rare Devil Fruit that passed down the bloodline when the original wielder died. But she knew that one wasn't true. If it was a Devil Fruit she wouldn't be able to swim and she still could. All those who had this gift were able to swim. So it was an unsolved mystery that might never be solved.

Part of her wanted to set out to sea, not to just get away from this island, but to search out for answers. She often wondered if her grandfather knew more about the gift than he never told her. There had been times when she asked him about the gift and he was vague with his answers. Still she never pressed for answers as to why he was like this. He was her only family. She didn't want to do anything that upset him or pushed him away. He was her maternal grandparent. He was her mother's dad. She never knew her mother since she had, sadly, died during childbirth.

And she barely knew her father at all. She had very few, peppered memories about her dad. She was only four years old when the man just disappeared one day and never came back. Her grandfather never spoke of him again. Not even when she asked about him. It was clearly a touchy subject with her grandfather. Eventually, she just stopped asking about him. Then she never got the chance anymore when her godfather died. She wished she had asked more about her dad when she had the chance. But on the rare times her grandfather did speak of him, he only said things like:

_"Probably shacked up with some woman somewhere."_

_ "Don't think about him, Lena. He's no good to anyone."_

There were never any clues to where he could possibly be, or who he even was. So she had no choice but to let it go. What were the chances her dad would even want to be around her anyway? What were the chances she would even find him if she went looking for him? This world was huge. And she had no clue what he even looked like. She wondered if he would look like her. Often the first born looked like the dad. And she was an only child.

Lena sighed as the cool sea wind blew through the trees and teased her hair. She lifted her hands up from the dogs, causing them to run off. She stared at her palms as a soft green glow started to emit from them. It was the glow that helped her heal people. Another sigh passed over her lips as she forced the glow to fade away from her. It was such a useless gift now.

She tucked a strand of her light blonde hair behind her ear just as the youngest of the dogs started barking. It wasn't a _danger_ bark. It was more of an _"I found something new to play with! But it won't play with me! I want to play! Play! Play! Play!"_ type bark. The type she often used when the dog found herself a turtle and wanted to play with it but the turtle tucked back into its shell to hide. She looked to the seaside of the forest, but couldn't see anything because of the trees and bushes. She hadn't yet made it to the beach. "What has she found now? Another soft shelled turtle? Or maybe a sea turtle came on land again?"

Lena pushed herself to her feet. When she did the other two dogs looked up from their sniffing. They looked over to where their younger companion was barking before rushing over to see what she was barking at. With nothing better to do, she followed after them. She didn't want the dog to torture the turtle, if it was one. She knew the young dog would sit out there all night long barking at the turtle. So she continued on down the path and walked out onto the warm sand. At first sight it did looked like there was a turtle on the beach. But when she got closer to the dogs she kneaded her eyebrows together in confusion. It wasn't a turtle at all. The shape was wrong and it looked like it had red hair.

"What in the heck is that?" Lena gasp when she got close enough to find that it was a person. She ran over to them and rolled them onto their back. It was a man, a red haired man with three scars over his left eye. She dropped her eyes down to his chest. It was covered in blood. "Hey! Are you okay? And that was a stupid question. Of course you're not all right. You're unconscious and bleeding."

She then pressed her fingers to his neck, looking for a pulse. She held her breath until she was able to feel it beating under her fingers. While counting his pulse, she couldn't help but noticed this roughly dressed, rough looking man had a rather soft face. The scars he had on his face made her wonder where he had got them. And his hair was an impressive red that she's never seen before. Without thinking, she pulled her fingers away from his neck and reached over, brushing his wet hair away from his features. She mindlessly brushed her fingers his damp skin. It barely registered to her that this man hadn't been here for very long as she lost herself in the features of this man.

A sharp bark from one of the dogs snapped her out of her trance. She jerked her hand away from the man's face, feeling her own face heat up from embarrassment at what she was doing. She glanced at the dogs. She felt her face grown even warmer at the sight of them. She didn't know why but it felt like they were teasing her for the way she was acting with the man. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! I want doing anything wrong!"

The dogs just wagged their tails and tilted their heads at her. The youngest made a playful noise that sounded like she was telling Lena that she wasn't buying the excuse.

"Whatever," Lena said. She turned her eyes away from the dogs and looked around. "This man needs help. I need to get him to my house. What can I use to do that with? He looks like he's rather heavy. I can't go get someone. They wouldn't believe me anyway."

Her eyes roamed back to the man lying unconscious on the beach. She eyes his body, despite his cloak, she easily guessed he weighted at least twice as much as she did. She released an intense and frustrated sigh. She wasn't a sissy by any means. Having grown up with only a man around caused her to be more of a tomboy than a girly girl. While teaching her his doctor skills he also taught her how to fight. He wanted her to be able to take care of herself since he knew he wouldn't always be around her to help her. She was actually quite strong and could easily defend herself from normal people when it was necessary. This was proven on many occasions when she did go into the village.

While she was considered odd, that didn't stop some men from hitting on her. There had been a few occasions where she had to defend herself. Luckily she was able to handle the men just fine. She hasn't yet come across a man she couldn't handle. But this guy lying on the beach was clearly a lot stronger than the men in the village. She wondered what he did for a living. Being out on the beach she figured it had something to do with sailing the seas. He didn't really look like a business made with the clothes he had on.

But now wasn't the time to think about the past. She had a patient she needed to attend to. The thought made her heart jump with joy. She was actually going to get to help someone. It's been so long since she had done that. So she pushed herself off the ground, dusted the sand off her jeans, and ran back into the forest. One thing she did have on her side was the three dogs she was with. They were large breeds so they could help her haul this man back to her house easily. Despite that it was still going to be a tough haul since the pathway was small and there was a small incline to get back up to the house.

…

**Author's Notes: This idea from Akazulzuya some years ago. Originally it was a Shanks X Reader story I posted on my Deviant Art account under the name countrystrata. Out of boredom, and lack of ideas for my in-progress stories, I've revised the first couple of chapters and going to extend it some. It's not a very good story but enjoy if you like it.**


	2. Patient

Patient

Lena ran all the way back home to get some supplies she knew she was going to need. Lucky she found some wheels that would make the trip a lot easier, but still it was going to be a long, tiring haul home. Rushing back down the beach she tossed the wheels onto the ground and gathered up some study branches. Tapping into what her grandfather taught her, she made the makeshift bed she was going to use to pull the man on. She then hooked some makeshift harnesses around the dogs' bodies and walked them over to the unconscious man.

Once she shoved the piece of plywood board down next to him, she rolled the man over onto it. A dull groan left his lips, making her jump in thinking he had woken up. But he did not make another sound after that. "Sorry. I know that was a bit rough. But I'm the only one here to do this. I'll give you something for that pain later. All right, guys, let's get him up to the house."

The dogs barked and started pulling the man towards the other bed that was waiting for them. She groaned in frustration as she tried to lift the man onto the other makeshift bed. It took her several tries before she finally made the switch happen. She dropped to the ground in a heavy pant. "This man is heavy."

After a few minutes of rest, she grabbed the rope and all four of them began the slow, hard trek back up the small forest path. It took then almost an hour to haul him back up the five minute walk. But finally they made it. And they made it into the house. Now all that was left was getting him onto her bed.

"Goodness," Lena grunted as she lifted the man up onto her bed. "I don't think I've ever gotten such a good work out before. I hope your rich because once you wake up I'm going to charge you for all this heavy lifting."

She stepped back from the sleeping man in her bed, brushing her arm over the sweat on her forehead. A frown pulled across her lips. She was now without a bed for herself. She glanced over to her right. There use to be a small wing attached to the house right here. It held cots for the injured and sick that her grandfather took care of. But a storm a few weeks ago tore it down. With dwindling funds she couldn't fix it. All she could afford to do was buy wood to block out the wind and animals. It didn't really matter. It wasn't like she was using it anyway. She had no patients after all. Still it bugged her that this stranger was having to sleep in her and her grandfather's bed.

Yes, she shared a bed with her grandfather. They never had an overflow of money. They both came from a humble background. It was rare, however, for her grandfather to actually sleep with her. She usually had the bed all to herself. He would stay up late working or would sleep on one of the cots when one was empty. He would always say things like, _"A girl needs her own space."_

It made her sad at how loving and supportive her grandfather was to her. She loved him so much and now he was gone forever. Sadness refilled her chest. This place was filled with nothing but memories of him. She had to leave. She had to get away from all of the torture here.

She jumped when the dogs barked. She brushed away the tears that had streaked down her cheeks and walked over to the door. They were gathered at the door to go home themselves. She didn't want them to go. She felt less alone when they were there, but they weren't hers. She had no choice but to untie the ropes from their bodies and let them go. She opened the door for them and said, "Thanks for your help. See you later."

With a click the door was close and she headed back to the unconscious man in the house. It was time to get down to business. She had dawdled long enough. So without another thought, she started to remove his wet clothes from his body. She placed a towel over his lap to give him more privacy despite him being unconscious. She had a high respect for other people's bodies. But she couldn't help but lightly gasped when she removed his shirt.

His chest was rippling with muscles. She stared at it for several minutes before realizing what she was doing. She had to slap herself to stop herself from staring. "Stupid! Stop it! He's a stranger! A half naked stranger in your home! Be professional! It hasn't been all that long since you've seen a man's chest! Come on!"

With a huff and stiff nod of her head, she finished undressing the man and, for the time being, she ditched his dirty torn clothes on the floor. She then stood up and walked over to a near by cabinet that held what remaining doctoring items she had left. She was just about out of everything. Lucky for her this man didn't have any life threatening injuries so the few medical supplies she did have and her gift it would be enough. But after that she was going to be out completely of everything.

And she couldn't get more since she wasn't an official doctor. All she would be able to get her hands on were small amounts of first aid medical supplies. She grabbed a chair from the table and angrily yanked it over to the side of the bed. Holding her hands out over his body, they were engulfed in the soft green glow again. The glow then flowed out over the man's body, healing the wounds and pushing out the dirt that was inside of them.

Stupid rules of this island really got to her at times. Women didn't have the right here to be doctors. That was _man's work_ according to just about every man on the island, but not all of them. And certainly not all of the woman agreed with that. She's heard them talking before. She wasn't the only one who wasn't satisfied with women only being able to stay home with the children, cook, and clean, or basically do _women's' work._ But no one ever challenged the right to change all of that. And she didn't know why. She figured they all were either really just fine with how things were or they were just lazy. Still the thoughts caused an angry sigh and several curses to this island and the people here as she continued to attended to the injured man.

Both her body and heart jumped when an unexpected voice said, "Tsk, tsk, such language coming from such a pretty mouth."

She didn't expect her unconscious houseguest to wake up so soon. His sudden vocalization almost caused her to fall out of her chair. She placed a hand over her pounding heart, trying to steady it. She jumped again when he reached up and took a strand of her hair in his fingers. She was too startled to even move away from him as his dark eyes piercing into her own dark blue eyes. "How lucky am I? I've died and gone to heaven. Such a beautiful angel has come to welcome me here. How about a kiss, sexy woman?"

It took Lena a moment to register what he was saying to her before she was able to remove his hand from her hair. She placed his hand back on the bed as she said, "Okay, since you're injured and drunk on pain killers, I'm gonna ignore that."

"Oh, honey, if you want me to be drunk just give me some liquor," he said, raising his hand once again. This time he traced his fingers along her jaw line, causing her heart to skip a beat and her body to freeze. She wasn't use to this kind of attention and was out of practice a bit with deal with people in everyday interaction. Or maybe it was just him. She could tell he was different from all the other men she knew. She could sense and see he was gentle and way more friendly than his exterior body said. "Then I'll be able to show you a real good time."

"Sorry, pal," Lena said, regaining control over her thoughts and body. She once again shoved his hand back down to the bed. "I don't buy into that sleeping with a stranger equals a good time thing. Call me old fashion, but I want marriage first with a guy I love before sex. Besides, there's no liquor in this house at all. And you won't be getting any time soon, mister. Alcohol and medications don't mix."

"What?! No alcohol!" he screamed.

"That's correct, mister." Lena crossed her arms over her chest.

"But I _need_ it!" he said.

"No, you don't _need_ alcohol," Lena said. "A human body only needs food and water. Anything else is just a want. You'll survive just find with the food and water I give you. As long as you're under my care you're not going to drink a single ounce of alcohol."

"No!" he cried, in her opinion overdramatically, and fell back on the bed.

Lena blinked in confusion as she watched him and his pathetic display on her ban of alcohol. She wasn't really sure if he passed out from his injuries or the fact you were forbidding him access to alcohol. She ran her eyes back over the scars on his body. She had second thoughts on why he passed out. His injuries were serious enough to cause this kind of reaction. So it had to be because she forbid him to drink alcohol.

"Who is this guy?" Lena asked herself. "Don't tell me I brought an uncontrollable drunk into my house."

Her eyes drifted up to his face. She studied him long and hard, trying to figure him out. Was it possible that this guy was an alcoholic? What he abusive? Did she bring a dangerous man into her house? Who was he? How did he end up on the beach and wounded? Was he attacked by pirates or something? Or was he a pirate himself? Her eyes drifted over to the sword she left leaning against her wall. That sword belonged to him, but that didn't necessarily make him a pirate. Perhaps he was an undercover navy soldier that got in over his head?

Lena shook her head. She didn't get a bad feeling from him at all. She knew, somehow that she was safe around him. She just had to wake for him to wake up so he could answer all of her questions. For now, she was going to just let him rest. It was what he needed. And she had to be honest with herself. She didn't really care who this man was. She couldn't explain it. All she knew was she got a strange feeling that having this guy around was going to chase away the darkness that had settled around her. And it was going to be a lot of fun torturing him with her ban on alcohol.

His reaction to her band on alcohol started playing over and over again in her head. Soon she found her lips curling into a smile. And a sound came out of her mouth that she hasn't heard from herself since her grandfather died. She laughed. She laughter harder each time she looked at his face. Soon her sides and her face were aching like crazy. She had to wrap her arms around herself to ease the pain. When her laughter finally subsided, she took a couple deep breaths and composed herself. It felt good to laugh again. She didn't realize how much she had missed it and how depressed she really was. But now wasn't the time for laughing. She had a patient, a real patient, to take care of.

She placed her hand over the man's wounded chest. Her warm green glow radiated from her hand and over his body. She closed her eyes and focused as the damage his body had begun to filter into her mind. She saw all of his internal injuries this way. There were some blood leaks from his internal organs. Luckily, it wasn't too severe so she would be easily able to fix it. Her breathing was slow and calm as her glow mended his wounds. Once she had the bleeding stopped and the wounds closed up, she opened her eyes and removed her hands from his body. She then grabbed the bandages she had nearby and wrapped his wounded chest up after applying antibiotic cream to his flesh. She then took care of the minor cuts on his arms and legs, wrapping them snuggly in the bandages.

Suddenly, Lena paused. Her eyes landed back on the man's features. And despite his eyes being closed, she couldn't shake the feeling he was watching her. She felt her cheeks heat up as she pulled her attention from him. She suddenly felt so silly and childish. "This is so stupid. What's the matter with me?"

With a sigh, she put up what remained of the bandages and medicine before swooped up his clothes from off the floor. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a piece of something white fall then hit the floor with a wet slap. She looked down to find it was a piece of paper. She picked it up. Inspecting the paper, she found that nothing was written on it and wondered why anyone would be carrying around a blank piece of paper.

She walked over to the wastebasket. She held the paper out over the basket, but she couldn't bring herself to throw it away. Instead, she walked over to the desk and placed it on the top. She really shouldn't throw something way that's not hers. It could be important to him for some reason. She then headed outside to wash this man's clothes.

…

Lena was standing at the stove, cooking breakfast, when she heard groans coming from behind her. She scoop the eggs out of the pan and place them beside the toast on the two plates sitting on the counter. Picking the plates up, she turn to see her house guest sitting up and rubbing his head. She walked over to him. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, but," He paused then looked down at himself when he felt a breeze. "Why did…Oh, I see. I guess I misread things yesterday. You're not an angel, are you? Did you like it?"

Without missing a beat, she shot him a dignified look. "Yes, I did enjoy last night. You were a good boy, took my ban on alcohol like a man, without complaint and immediately went to sleep. " She bit back a chuckle when he frowned at her.

"Then last night wasn't a dream. I'm not in heaven at all. This is a nightmare."

"It would have been a nightmare if I decided it would be better to just leave you out on that beach to die." Lena handed him one of the plates she was holding.

"You're not going to feed me?" He pouted.

"Taking in the fact that you're trying to flirt with me, you're not that injured. You can feed yourself," she replied sitting down in the chair that she had placed by the bed last night.

"No sympathy for an injured man? Fine. You got any alcohol? I'm thirsty," he grumbled while shoving a bit of egg in his mouth.

Lena huffed. "I told you, you are getting no alcohol while in my care."

The man's eyes widened as his voice became whiney. "That's not fair! I'm an adult! I can have a drink if I want one!"

"Well, you don't seem very adult to me. You're acting like a child," she pointed out then sighed. "Look, I'm just trying to help you, okay? I could have just left you out there on that beach to die."

"I wouldn't have died," he said with a cocky grin that made Lena seethe. "Like you said, my injuries aren't that bad. Besides, I've been hurt worse."

"How nice for you."

"You're not going to ask about it?"

"Why would I? That's an invasion of privacy," When he didn't say anything, she raised her eyes to his. Lena felt her cheeks grow warm as he studied her. She jumped to her feet and head towards the fridge. "You said you were thirsty. Milk or water?"

"Liquor."

"Milk it is then, little boy." Lena cheerfully smiled back at him. He frown deeply at her as a low growl rumbled in his thick throat.

"Why bother asking me what I want to drink if you don't give it to me? I want booze," he whined.

"I asked if you wanted milk or water. I never offered booze," she pointed out in a matter of fact tone as she poured him a cup of milk.

"I thought doctors were supposed to be gentle, caring and give their patients what they need to survive."

"Well, luck for you, I'm not a doctor," Lena said, putting the milk back into the fridge. She grabbed his cup and walk it over to him.

"Really?" He blinked at her. "With that trick you did last night, I was sure you were one."

Lena jerked at his words, sloshing some of the milk on the floor. His eyes narrowed in on her as she tried to quickly compose herself. "Wh-what trick? I didn't do anything special last night. I just gave you some painkillers, stitched and bandaged up your wounds."

He took the cup from her hand while keeping his eyes on her. Lena shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

"It's nothing." He smiled softly at you. "I won't bring it up again. At least until you want to talk about it. So, since I'm stuck here for a while, how about you tell me your name? I can't keep going around calling you Sexy Woman…Unless you _want_ me to call you that."

"Lena." She placed her hands on her hips and glare at him. "My _name_ is Lena."

"Lena, huh?" He gave her a playful smirk. "I think I like Sexy Woman better."

"Drink your milk, little boy!" she ordered.

He frowned at you again. "My name is _Shanks_, not _little boy_."

"Keep acting like a little boy and that's what I'm going to call you." Lena sniffed while she walked back over to the kitchen and snatched up her almost forgotten breakfast. She walked back over and plopped down in her chair. "My house, my rules."

"Not so lucky for you then." He smiled, not daunted by her rules.

"What do you mean?" Lena blink at him. He paused and studied her again. Another smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Suddenly he broke out with laughter. "What? What's so funny?"

"I should have known when you gave no reaction to my name!" His laughter made a shiver run up her spine. It didn't scare her. _He_ didn't scare her. She was just confused at his reaction.

"Why would I have a reaction to your name? I do find it a bit odd," Lena said.

"You've never heard of me, huh?" He laid down against his arm. His empty plate laying on the bed with the empty cup on top of it. She had no idea when he even drank the milk. "Red Hair Shanks?"

Lena shook your head.

Shanks chuckled. "This must be a very small island indeed. Don't pirates ever come here, Sexy?"

"Lena!" Lena snapped. "And yes they do. What of it?"

"Tell me, my dear Lena, are you afraid of pirates?"

"No, not really." Lena tapped her chin. "Then I never really met one. I know they're bad and do bad things, but…I never really thought about them before."

"So you have the typical opinion on pirates?"

"I guess so."

"Well, I guess I'll have to change your mind on that." Shanks leaned closer to her.

Lena tensed. His warm breath fanned over her skin. "And what does that mean?"

"I am a pirate." Shanks's eyes shimmered. "And I'm taking you hostage."


	3. Hostage

Hostage

"You really shouldn't be out of bed," Lena said. She narrowed her eyebrows as the pirate dressed. Her mind wandered back to his words a few nights ago. He said he was going to make her his hostage. Yet he had done nothing.

"Well, tough, Miss Sexy." Shanks smirked at her. "I've been laying around in bed for days. I need to stretch my legs. And since you're going into town, I'm going with you."

Lena twisted her lips to the side. She didn't understand this man at all.

"Look, Sexy, I'm going with you. The only way you're going to keep me in bed is if you join me."

Face burning she growled and toss him his shirt. "Is that and booze all you really think about?!"

"Usually it's just booze." Lena felt the intensity in the man's eyes as he dragged his gaze over her body. "But you are hot."

"Get dress, _little boy!_" Lena ordered before stomping over to the door.

"Hey, Lena?"

"What?"

"I seem to be missing something. It's a piece of paper about-"

"You mean this?" Lena pulled the paper out of her pocket and held it up. He took it from her. "What is it?"

"It's a vivre card." He placed the paper on his palm. It inched across his hand. "See the way it's moving? That means my crew is in that direction."

"Your crew? When will they be here?"

"Hard to tell." Shanks shoved the paper into his pocket. "They have a piece of this paper. It'll lead them to me. It'll probably be soon. I'm not exactly sure where this island is, but I doubt my crew is far away."

"Oh." Lena dropped her eyes down to the ground. She had forgotten he was going to leave.

"Lena, you don-"

"Well, let's go." Lena cut him off and left the house. There was tension between the two as they walked along. Nothing was said at all. Occasionally, she could feel his eyes on her, but she didn't return the look.

Eventually the two of entered the town. Several booths were set up. Shanks quietly followed her around as she shopped. When he noticed she wasn't buying much, he finally broke the silence. "Oh, right! I almost forgot about your payment for helping me! How much will it be?"

"Hm? Oh, um, don't worry about it." Lena tried to brush him off. "It's not like I can buy medical supplies anyway."

"But you need food and other things." Shanks eyes dropped to the single sack around her wrist.

"I'm fine on food and other things." Lena shifted. "Just let it go."

"Fine," he huffed. "But I'm still going to pay you for taking up your time and for your help. When my crew gets here, I _am_ paying you."

"Fine." Lena walked on, ignoring the curious glances the townspeople was giving them.

Suddenly the pirate shrieked with childlike glee. "Booze!" He laughed while he took off for a local tavern.

"Oh no you don't!" Lena grabbed the neck of his shirt, effectively stopping him in his tracks and causing him to fall on his butt.

"Ouch!" Shanks whined. "How is it possible you have so much strength in you? I'm at least three times as big as you!"

"Call it a gift," she replied. "I told you no booze while you're in my care."

"You're such a meanie." Shanks bottom lip pooched out. "And I'm not in your care. You're my hostage."

"Sure I am." Lena rolled her eyes. The second she released his cape he tried to run to the tavern again. Once again she pulled him back. She took his hand and pulled him along with her. "Come on!"

"Hey!" he protested.

"Protest all you want. If you aren't going to listen to me then I'll just have to hold your hand and force you to follow me just like the little boy you are being."

He grumbled under his breath, but didn't try to pull away from her. Instead, he closed his fingers around hers. It made her heart jump. She mentally shook her head, denying the idea of falling for him.

"You sure have a lot of interesting things here." Shanks's voice broke into her thoughts. His eyes were on a glassmaker that lived on the island. The glassmaker had several examples of his work sitting out. It was like rainbows had taken up residence on the tables.

They continued. Lena found Shanks to be rather enjoyable to be around, when he wasn't thinking about booze. It was clear at this point that his threat of taking her hostage was an empty one. If he really wanted her as a hostage she knew he could do it. Still it left her confused at what he really wanted. Did he want something from her? Or was he only waiting for his crew to come for him?

"Hey, Lena!"

Lena cringed.

"It's been a while since you've come into town." Kiba was one of the guys in the village who didn't really like her, but wouldn't stop flirting with her when she came into town. He and a couple of his friends walked over.

"Been busy."

"I see." Kiba looked at pirate. He frowned when he saw their hands clamped together. Shanks raised an eyebrow at the man's frown. "Who's he?"

"None of your business," Lena said. With that she released Shanks hand and walk off.

Shanks didn't follow her.

"Are you dating her?" one of them asks.

"And what if I was?" Shanks asked. Hate passed through Kiba's eyes. "What business is it of yours?"

"She's a freak, you know," a second one said and the small group chuckled.

"Yeah! Haven't you seen her strange powers?" a third one said. "She's total freak. No one likes her. That's why she stays hidden all the time."

"Not all the time," the first one said with a chuckle. "We're not that lucky. She still comes into town once in while."

"If only she'd leave." The second one laughed. "But then, like you said, we're not lucky at all when it comes to her."

Shanks frown deeply as shadows fell over his eyes.

The third one speaks up again. "Well, Kiba would like to get _lucky_ with her."

"That's just wrong, man." The second one laughed. Kiba just shrugged. "But she is hot. Maybe he has the right idea."

Shanks hand shot out and grabbed the second man by the throat. He lifted his intense eyes and growled. "Stop talking about her like that."

"Hey! Release him! Who the heck do you think you are?!" one of the men demanded.

"Shanks," Shanks replied. The men's expressions went white.

"As in Red Hair Shanks?" one of them squeaked. "The pirate?"

"S-sorry, man." The men started to back off. "We didn't realize it was you."

"Shanks!" Lena stomped back to the men. "Release him at once!"

Shanks dropped the man. He glared at the men once more. "Get lost!"

The men ran off.

"Why did you do that?"

"I was only trying t-"

"I don't care what you were trying to do! Don't do it again! I don't need your protection! I can handle myself just fine! Been doing it long before you even got here!"

"I'm sorry, Lena. I didn't mean to imply you couldn't take care of yourself."

Lena sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just…"

"Just want?" Shanks asked.

"I'm just so use to taking care of myself. Okay? You're the first to ever stick up for me. You really didn't have to do it. Those guys are just jerks. Real men won't make fun of someone just because they're different."

"Lena…" Shanks finger appeared under her chin. He tilted her head so their eyes connect met.

Lena blinked slowly. He leaned closer, his warm breath brushed over her skin. She drew in a breath. Part of her wanted to be kissed by him. He was clearly different from the men who lived on this island. But she knew it wasn't something they should do. She placed his hand on his chest to stop him, to push him away.

"Captain!"

Both jumped when someone's voice breaks into the moment. A group of pirates surround the two of them. "We've been looking all over for you!"

Lena stumbled back. Her eyes ran over the group of men coming towards them. It took her a second to register who these men were Shanks's crew. They surround him. They laugh and joke about their recent adventure in losing their captain. "Hey! They have a tavern here! Let's go there and talk!"

"Great!" Shanks voice rang out. "It's been days since I've had a drink!"

The crew walks off without a glance in Lena's direction. Sighing she headed home. He was where he should be.

As she walked along, happy cheers from the villagers begin to fade away. Shadows drop over her eyes from the swirling thoughts of what might have been if Shanks had stayed. She scolded herself. "What the heck's wrong with me? He's a pirate, you idiot. You knew he'd be leaving when his crew got here. You don't have feelings for him anyway. It's normal for him to leave like this. It's the right thing. I wasn't expecting anything from him."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Lena jumped at Kiba's voice and whip around. He was leaning against a tree, smirking. "What the heck are you doing sneaking up on me like that?!"

"I wasn't sneaking." His eyes glinted. "Though I am glad to hear you don't have feelings for that man. I wouldn't be happy if you did."

"Huh? Why would you care about that?"

He chuckled and started walking towards her. He suddenly grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to a tree. "You're not that naive. I like you, Lena. I always have."

"Like me?" Lena laughed. "You always make fun of me."

"That's my friends' doing not mine." He shook his head.

"You don't stop them. So you're guilty too." She pushed against him. "Now let me go!"

"That's not going to happen this time." He chuckled.

"This time? What do you mean?" Lena tried to push him off again. He held strong. Her heart thumped.

"The past times, I let you beat me." He smiled maliciously and leaned in. "This time will be different. This time I will have you as mine."

"Let go!" Lena tried to kick him, but he easily blocked with his leg.

"Stop struggling!"

"N-" Kiba cuts off her words with his lips. Lena gagged when he shoved his tongue into his mouth. He tasted terrible. A mixture of booze and smoke was on his tongue. She tightened her eyes, trying to think of a way out of this. But all her mind could do was go to Shanks. She wished he were still with her. She wanted him to be with her. That's when she realized. She had fallen for the red haired man. His kindness. His smirks. His pathetic whining for booze. She loved all of it. Did that mean she was in love with him? It had only been a few days since they met.

Suddenly, Kiba jerked away from her.

Lena opened her eyes to see Kiba on the ground, unconscious.

"Lena, are you all right?" Shanks asked, brushing her hair out of her face.

"What are you doing here?!" Lena shout. She was thankful he came back and helped her but she also hated that he did. She didn't want to see him. He was supposed to be on his ship by now. "You should be with your crew! You should be drunk by now! You should be leaving!"

"Lena, I would never leave like that. Sorry I got pulled away by my crew and left you there. I was never-" Shanks reached for her.

"Leave me alone!" Lena slapped his hand away. "I don't want you here!"

"Lena."

Lena turned and ran from him. As she ran she cursed herself and Shanks. Mostly herself. Even though they had only a few days together she had gotten close to him, closer than she wanted. And she didn't even notice it was happening. It shouldn't have happened.

…

Shanks growled in frustration. He was getting so annoyed that he couldn't find her. And he had been looking for over three hours. His wandering around eventually led him to her closest neighbors house. The man and his wife were outside tending to their garden. Their dogs barked but ran up to him with friendly tails wagging.

The man looked up. Shanks saw a little alarm in the man's eyes. "Well, I heard the Red Hair pirates were on our island."

"You don't have anything to fear from me," Shanks said. He patted the dogs on the heads with a friendly smile as if to prove his point. "I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm only looking for Lena. Have you seen her by chance? I can't find her anywhere."

"You know Lena?" the woman asked.

"Yeah." Shanks nodded. "I was hurt and she helped me these past few days. Do you know where she might be?"

"I see." The woman leaned against her shove. "Well, you're not going to find her anytime soon then."

"What do you mean?" Shanks asked.

"If she can't be found then that means she's hiding. And she knows this island better than anyone else here," the man replied. "She's got so many hiding spots. The only thing we know about her hiding spots is that she can see the ocean from any one of them. Our dogs can't even find her when she feels like disappearing."

"Seriously?" Shanks blinked in disbelief. He looked down at the dogs. How was it possible that she could escape a dog's sense of smell? Walk through water? No that couldn't be right. They'd be able to pick up her trail when she exited the water. "Maybe it's because she's has medical knowledge? Some kind of flower or something to hide her scent? Or mess up the dog's nose?"

"What are you babbling about?" the man asked.

"Nothing." Shanks look back at them. "Thanks for your time. Sorry to have bothered you."

"Sure, no problem at all," the man said.

Shanks turned and walked back towards his ship. His mind was lost in thought. He never noticed his crew coming towards him until they called out for him. "Captain! Where'd you go?! We've been looking all over for you!"

"Sorry," Shanks replied halfheartedly. "I've…I was just looking for someone."

"Lena?" Lucky Roo asked.

"How did…?" Shanks raised his eyes up to his men.

"We heard people talk about you two in town," Benn replied. "Apparently, some towns people are looking for her too."

"What? What for?" Shanks asked, getting a very bad feeling.

"Not really sure." Lucky Roo shrugged.

"Something about her attacking one of the villagers or something," Yasopp said.

"And they're not happy about it either," Rockstar added.

Shanks narrowed his eyebrows.

Benn raised his eyebrow at his captain. "Who is this woman? What is she to you?"

"Listen up!" Shanks barked out. "We're leaving!"

"Huh?" The crew looked at their captain in confusion.

…

Lena pulled her face from her knees. She rubbed the back of her arm over her eyes to brush away the remaining tears then lifted up the large leaf that was currently blocking her view of the ocean. Her heart felt like it was shattering into piece when she saw his ship. It was heading out to sea just like it should have been. "Good. Leave. I hope I never see you again."

Lena didn't want to see his ship disappear on the horizon. Instead, she dropped the leaf back into place and crawled out of her current hiding place. She descended the tree and headed for home.

Her head throbbed like crazy with each step she took. After several agonizing moments, she finally made her way to her small house. A cool, lonely brush of air greeted her when she stepped inside. Sighing she pressed her back to the door when she closed it. The house felt even emptier than it ever had before.

Lena pushed off the door and headed to grab a change of clothes. She pulled open the draw and paused. Blinking rapidly, and in confusion, she stared down into the empty drawer. "What the heck?"

A sudden loud 'pop' caused her to jump. She spun around to find Shanks standing there. His hand was planted on the wall. He was glaring at her. He closed his eyes, pulled his hand from the wall and grasped a hold of his belt. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?"

"What ar-"

"Silent!" Shanks snapped. Lena jumped, shocked by his tone. She remained quiet, and confused, as he took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Benn, proceed."

"Huh?" Lena tilted her head.

"Aye Aye, Captain," an unfamiliar voice said. Lena jump when a man stepped out of the shadows. He was carrying a rope in his hands. He smiled while advancing on her. "Do forgive me, miss."

"What the heck?! Shanks! What's going on?!" Lena demanded. She tried to back away from the man advancing on her, but had nowhere to actually go. She was trapped. With lightning fast reflexes the man had her tide up in seconds. Unintentionally, an unladylike string of curses left her mouth.

"Now, now," Shanks said as he walked up to her. He grasped a hold of her chin, forcing her to look at him. Lena was about to let him have it, verbally, but the look in his eyes and the warning tone of his voice made her freeze. "I don't want to hear words like that coming out of your mouth _ever_ again. You are forbidden to speak with such words."

That's when her voice finally reappeared. "Forbidden?! You have no right to forbid me from doing anything! Release me at once!"

His smirk and Benn's chuckle made her even angrier. Benn tossed her over his shoulder. They both ignored, and enjoyed, her protests and threats as they exited the house. "Let me go! If you don't release me right now, I'm going to subscribe you a twenty four hour enema!"

"Sorry, Sexy Woman." Shanks lean down to look into her eyes. "I told you before. You are my hostage. I wasn't lying about that."

…

**KooraX: The romance will be slow.**

**Musiome: Thanks. People get busy with life so they can't really come back and update. I just have no life due to a disability and things beyond my control that prevents me from getting a job. So I have no intention of not finishing my stories. Of course that excludes situations I have no control over like dying, getting severely injured so I can't write anymore, and so on.**


	4. New Home

New Home

Lena thrashed around, trying to jerk out of Benn's grip, but his grip was like an iron vice on her. He wouldn't budge. She opened her mouth to yell at him some more but clamped shut when she heard other voices chattering outside. She managed to pull herself up enough to get a quick glance at the men talking. It was Shanks crew. And they looked like they were prepared to enter into battle. "What the heck? What's going on?"

"Let's go!" Shanks ordered. "Time to set sail!"

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Aye Aye, Captain!" they replied.

"Someone tell me what the heck is going on?! You all ready left! I saw your ship leaving!" Lena demanded, but they still didn't answer her as they descended from her house. She growled. Her mind ran a hundred miles a minute trying to figure out how to get out of this. But she came up blank. She wasn't a fighter. And these pirates have been fighters for…well, she didn't know how long. All she knew was they were strong, especially the guy who was holding her. Before long more chattering, angry chattering, filled her ears. She forced herself up again to see the villagers coming towards the pirate crew. And they were armed as well. "What the…"

"Give her to us!" a villager growled.

Shanks pulled his sword out and stepped forward. "That's not going to happen. She is now under _my_ protection. You all know who I am, don't you?"

The villagers paused and studied him. Some immediately recognized him, while others didn't have a clue who he was. Then he said, "I am Red Hair Shanks. This is my crew." The villagers started to back up. He continued, "I won't allow you to harm this woman. She has done nothing wrong. You all are the ones who wronged her."

"She's a freak!"

"She deserves to die!" the villagers cried out.

Shanks growled. Danger rolled off of him in waves. "If you all want to kill her, you're going to have to get through me first." He pointed his sword at them. "Well? Bring it on!"

The villagers backed up more. Some immediately turned and ran off. The remaining villagers grumbled, but soon departed from the pirates.

Lena stared, still a bit unsure about what was happening here. But Shanks had saved her. Warm tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision. Her mind swirled. She didn't even notice they climbed onto their ship and headed out to sea. She didn't even notice the ropes had been removed. Or that Shanks had placed his hand on her head and pulled he into his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and cried.

"Shh. It's okay, Lena. You're safe now. They're not going to hurt you ever again."

Eventually, she stopped crying and pulled away from him. She brushed away her tears "I'm sorry. I just don't…they were really going to kill me?"

"I know," Shanks said softly. "It's okay. It's been a rough day for you. You're safe here."

"But what's going on?" Lena looked around at the ship and crew. They all were watching her and Shanks with peaked curiosity.

"You're part of my crew now," Shanks said.

"Excuse me?!" Lena whipped her eyes back to him. "Who said I wanted to be a pirate?! Are you insane?!"

"I don't see you jumping ship." Shanks leaned down to her and grinned cheekily. Lena huffed and stomped over to the railing of the ship on the full intent to jump over board. However, she was a pretty far distance from the island, almost a mile. How did they get away so fast? There was no way she could swim back. Sharks inhabited this area. "Don't pretend you're not happy to be away from that place. I know you."

"You don't know me at all!" Lena turned back to him and place you hands on her hips. "We've only met a few days ago! This is kidnapping!"

He hummed with a smile. "True. But I'm getting to know you. And I know you well enough at the moment to know how unhappy you were living there. I brought you here to make you happy. Or are you still trying to deny your feelings for me?"

"I don't have feelings for you!" Lena said hotly.

"Oh really?" He smirked at her. "And I quote, 'He's gone. As he should be. He didn't, doesn't belong here. He doesn't belong with you. You _don't_ love him. You're _not_ in love with him. You don't even _know_ him.' If you didn't have feelings for me then you wouldn't have said those things."

Lena's face flushed at his words and the crew's chuckling. "You…How long were you in my house?!"

"Long enough to hear everything." Shanks walked over to her. Lena walked back until her back pressed against the rail of the ship. He leaned down to her, his nose almost touching hers. His warm breath on her skin again when he spoke. His soft, caring voice made a shiver run up her spine. "I care about you, Lena. I know you care about me too. I want to get to know you better. I can't do that if you remain on that island. Besides, those people were going to hurt you."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed that. But why? What did I do to make them so angry to the point of wanting to kill me?"

"That guy…Kiba? He went back to the village after waking up. He told everyone you used your _creepy abilities_ to attack him," Shanks said.

"What?! I did nothing of the sort! My powers are for healing! They can't hurt anyone!" Lena said.

"I know." Shanks nodded. "But they believed him."

Lena growled and started pacing. Of course they believe him. She was a _freak_ after all. They all thought so.

"I knew I couldn't leave you there. You might be stronger than most women but you can't handle a mob on your own." Shanks watched her pace the deck. "I know this is going to be a big adjustment for you. But you are now apart of my crew. If you want we can search around for answers concerning your abilities."

Lena whipped towards him. She searched for words but nothing came. Did this virtual strange really want to help her search for answers? Did she really want to search for answers? She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and gnawed on it. She didn't know. Too much happened too fast.

"You don't have to answer me now," Shanks said. "You can tell me later what you want to do. There's no hurry."

"I still don't understand," Lena said. "Why make me a pirate? I mean why bring me onto your ship? I have no skills to add. I'm a liability."

"Don't be silly. Of course you do. You're a healer. You can help my crew's doctor." Shanks waved to a man wearing a flowery shirt and cut off shorts that fell to his knees. "That's Ross."

"Nice to meet you." Ross smiled. "The captain's told us all about you."

Lena blinked.

"Now…stop being so stubborn, Lena," Shanks said. "You don't have to be so strong around me and my crew. You can show us your weaknesses. None of us will hurt you. You're safe here."

Lena crossed her arms. She didn't buy it. She was trapped on a ship among strangers. "You don't have any idea how stupid this is, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Shanks tilted his head.

Lena ran her finger through her hair. "I said it before. I'm a liability. There's no way I can fight anyone, be it pirates or navy soldiers."

"Don't worry about that." Shanks smiled. "We're here. We'll protect you. I'll make sure someone is always with you until you can learn to protect yourself."

Lena snorted. "Right. A normal human woman with only healing abilities is really going to be able to survive on the ocean."

"It'll be fine. Trust me."

Lena rolled her eyes. Trust was not her strongest virtue. She eyed the crew. At the moment she wasn't sure if she'd be able to trust anyone, especially men, after what happened to her.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Shanks said. "Just relax. You really are safe here." He walked over to her. "How about a deal?"

"What kind of deal?"

"Give it some time. Let us prove to you that you can trust us. And if it turns out that you can't trust us then I'll let you leave the ship," Shanks said.

"Leave the ship? Where exactly will I go?" Lena waved her hand towards the water. "The only place I have ever known is gone. I can't go back there without getting killed."

"I know of an island where you'll be welcome," Shanks said. "It'll take a few months to get there. So you'll have plenty of time to decide what you want to do."

Lena knitted her eyebrows. His idea had merit. She's still wasn't sure about it. But what other choices did she have? Jump overboard and die by the hands of a sea creature? She looked back towards the island. It was completely gone. A heavy sigh escaped her. "Fine. I'll think about it over the next couple of months."

"Good." Shanks nodded. "Now that that's settled let's get you settle in. I'll show you to my room."

"I'm not having sex with you." Lena crossed her arms.

"What?!" Shanks faked a gasp and place a hand on his chest. "I never thought such a thing!"

"Yeah right. Sure you didn't." Lena rolled her eyes. "That totally wasn't one of the first things on your mind when you woke up in my house."

The crew chuckled.

"That's our captain," one of them said. Lena turned her eyes to one who spoke. The man was heavy set, very round around the middle. He worn a bandana and strange glasses that she had never seen before. He also held the cook leg of some animal in his hand. He caught her eyes, ripped off a piece of meat with his teeth, and then introduced himself. "I'm Lucky Roo. Nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah. Same. I think." Lena nodded as the crew said their names one by one. It was going to take her a while to learn all their names and their roles on the ship. Well, all except for Benn, Shanks, and Ross. They were easy to remember, especially Shanks and Benn who she had to personally thank for dragging her into this mess. "Fine. Show me to _my_ room."

"_Our_ room," Shanks said.

"I'm not sleeping with you, sexually or otherwise," Lena said.

"You don't have a choice." Shanks smirked. "We have no spare rooms to make a bedroom for you."

"What?"

"It'll take some time to rearrange things to transform a room into one of your own. Besides, the ship has a community bathroom and the captain's bathroom." Shanks's smirk grew. "But if you'd rather share a bedroom and bathroom with the crew you are more than welcome to."

"I'd like that!" someone called out.

"Me too!" another one said. More of the crew cheered and whistled.

Lena bristled. Such crappy options. She wanted neither of them. "Fine. Show me to _your_ room."

"That'll do for now." Shanks turned and headed for a door. "Come along, kitten."

"I'm not your kitten. And you could at least help me with my stuff." Lena waved her hand at her pile of stuff the crew had placed on the deck.

"I'll have the crew bring it to our room later." Shanks entered into the door.

"_Your_ room!" Lena stomped after him. The hall was lit with small lights on the walls. It gave enough light for her to see. A couple of doors lined the halls. Shanks was standing to one near the end of the hall. She passed another door that was open. It led to a set of stairs that descended downward.

"The crew's quarters are down there."

Lena stepped over to him.

"And this is our room." Shanks opened the door and walked inside.

"You mean _your_ room." Lena stepped inside. The air was stale with Shanks's scent and old booze. She waved her hand in front of her nose in a pathetic attempt to remove the smell. "You really drink that much? Ugh." She walked to the window and opened it. A fresh breeze of seawater poured through the window. "You're going to have to clean things up."

"Not going to happen," Shanks said.

Lena glanced around. His blanket was half off the bed. A closed door suggested the bathroom. A single dresser took up space in the corner of the room. Obviously a room for a single man. But it would have to do.

"Nice, huh? Do you prefer a certain side of the bed?" Shanks asked.

"If I did would it matter?" Lena's eyes fell on the bed. It was bigger than her own. And it would fit the two of them well enough, with about a foot and a half space between them. For that she was glad.

"Sort of. I'd like you to sleep on the side farthest away from the door."

"Why?"  
"Just in case someone boards the ship while we're sleeping."

Lena's eyes widened. "Can that happen?"  
"The crew does watch the ship day and night, but there's still a chance that someone can sneak on board."

Lena nodded. No one was perfect. Keeping their enemies away all the time was impossible. And it was impossible to know what skills another person had. She sighed. "Fine. I'll sleep on that side of the bed. But we are not sleeping under the same blanket. I will have my own. And you will not cross over or under it."

"You are no fun at all." Shanks pouted.

"You'll get use to it."

Over the next two hours Shanks and Lena worked in getting the room set for her stuff. He rearranged his clothing in the dresser so she had room for hers. She wanted to protest taking up half his space but knew it wouldn't do any good. She was going to be a while. Living out of bags and luggage would have been a pain.

After that they headed up to the deck where Lena spent some time watching the crew and trying to memorize names and duties. She didn't get very far. A couple hours later they ate dinner then spend some more time on the deck. Other than being kidnapped it was a very uneventful day that slowly gave way to night.

The cool night wind brushed across her skin causing goosebumps to appear. She stood from her chair. "I'm going to bed."

"Good idea." Shanks smiled. "I think I'll join you."

Lena scoffed. "I'm going to _sleep_. Nothing more. Good night."

"Night," the crew responded.

Rubbing her arms Lena entered back into the ship. She lingered through her nighttime routing before collapsing into bed. While her eyes were drowsy enough to beg her to sleep the sandman didn't make an appearance. For hours she laid in bed thinking about what happened and what might happen. Before she knew it the door opened. She closed her eyes, hoping Shanks would think she was asleep. Since she was sleeping with her back to the door he couldn't see her eyes.

The light never came on. Lena listened to Shanks move around the room, go into the bathroom, and then sink into bed with her a few minutes later. Her heart raced, expecting him to make a move on her or make a crude joke. He did nothing. She exhaled as quietly as she could. Before she knew it her eyelids fell closed and she was fast asleep.


	5. A Pirate's Life

A Pirate's Life

Over the next two weeks Lena spent her days talking to the crew and scrubbing the ship clean and learning where Ross kept everything in the infirmary. Part of the cleaning was to get as much smell of the booze out of the wood. But it was an endless task that she decided to give up on. The crew drank. A lot. The other part, the most part, she cleaned to keep herself busy. Never before had she noticed that there was nothing, _nothing,_ for her to do on a ship. No one was hurt so she couldn't heal anyone. She didn't know how to fight. Not even with watching the crew spar with each other. And she had no hobbies or interest to keep herself entertained.

"So, Lena," Benn said. The man leaned against the railing beside her.

Lena glanced at him. "Yes?"

"What kind of fighter do you want to be?" Benn asked.

Shanks, who was sitting against the mast, lifted his head and looked at them. Curiosity was in his eyes. He had asked her this before over the past two weeks but she brushed him off.

"I don't want to be a fighter," Lena said.

"That's not going to work out here. You have to fight," Benn said. "Or you'll die."

Lena pursed her lips while thinking. "I don't know. I'm really not interested in fighting. Fighting can lead to death. I'm a doctor. I refuse to kill."

"You won't think like that when someone's trying to take your life." Benn puffed on his cigarette and blew out smoke.

"Those things will kill you," Lena said.

Benn shrugged.

"You pirates." Lena shook her head. "Fine. Die of lung cancer."

"Not liking life of a pirate yet?" Lucky Roo asked.

"So far no. It's boring."

"That won't last long," Lucky Roo said. "Give it time. Things will pick up sooner or later. Then you'll be begging for these down times."

"Sure." Lena turned. Resting her arms over the railing she stared at the horizon. Suddenly the ship took a violent jerk. It rocked, throwing her to the deck. She landed hard on her shoulder.

"What the heck was that?!"

"I don't see any ships!"

The ship rocked again. This time the side almost touched the water. Lena slid towards the dipping edge. Her heart hammered in her chest. The ship righted itself before she could fall overboard.

"They must be under the water." Shanks stood.

"Under the water?" Lena pushed herself up and scrambled over to the mast. She grabbed onto it, hoping she could keep herself stable if the ship rocked again.

"Not everyone uses ships, Lena. Some use submarines." Shanks pulled his sword. "Ready for battle, men."

Ropes shot up from the sides of the ship. Hooks latched onto the wood before bodies shot upward. Their enemy landed on the ship.

Everything when into fast motion. Frozen to the mast Lena watched as the two pirate crews battled each other. Blood spurted into the air. Guns fired, filling her nostril with gunpowder. Shanks stayed close to her, protecting her from getting attacked.

Blurs of color dashed around the ship. Lena couldn't follow them. Before she knew it the battle was over. Her legs wobbled before she collapsed to the deck. Her heart pounded so hard she believed it would pound right out of her chest. She gasped for air, becoming lightheaded. She was going to faint.

A warm, firm hand landed on her shoulder. "Easy now. Take a deep breath."

Lena drew air in, held it for a few seconds then let it out slowly. Her mind cleared with a couple more deep breaths. Eyes coming back into focus she found Shanks's calm eyes taking her in.

"You're all right now." Shanks pat her head.

Swallowing she looked up at Lucky Roo. "You were right. I'll take boredom over _that_ any day."

The crew laughed at her admission.

"Have some water," Shanks said.

Lena took a glass from Yasopp and gulped it down.

"Now do you understand?" Benn asked. "Why you need to learn how to fight?"

Lena nodded despite the fact she still didn't want to fight.

"All right," Shanks said. "I'll think about what type of fighting will suit you best. Once we get you equipped with a weapon we'll start your real training."

"Real training?" Lena blinked.

"For the time being the crew will help build up your muscles and strength," Shanks said.

Lena sighed. "Fine."

Shanks nodded at Benn.

Benn nodded back.

Lena was hoping she wouldn't have to start working right that second. She was wrong.

"I want three hundred pushups," Benn said.

"Huh? Right now?" Lena asked.

"Of course. No better time to start than right now." Benn waved his hand. "Get to it."

"Fine." Lena handed the glass back to Yasopp then moved into position and started doing her pushups. The first hundred were easy. The last two hundred were difficult. She had no idea how weak she really was until that moment. Mentally she cursed herself as her muscles screamed at her to stop. She wasted so many years trying to be a doctor she never even thought to bother building up her strength. Then what would she need it for back home?

…

Lena groaned and fell on her back. Every single muscle ached and cried for relief.

"Get up. You're not done yet," Benn said.

"Today I am," Lena said between breathes. "I can't take it anymore."

"She's right," Ross said. "I understand you need to push her, but she also needs rest. If you keep going at this pace then she'll end up hurt."

Lena smiled at the doctor. If she had the energy she would have kissed him. Having spent the past month training with Benn and a few other crewmembers she had gotten a bit stronger. However she was still very far from being on par with the crew.

"All right." Benn said. "You can take a few days off to rest."

"Wonderful," Lena said.

"Good thing. We're going to be landing soon."

Lena turned her eyes to the man who spoke. It was Coda, the crew's navigator. He was the smallest member of the crew with a boyish face, bleached blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She often wondered why such a guy would become a pirate, but never had the opportunity to speak to him. Coda spent a lot of time looking through binoculars or a spyglass if he wasn't hard at work in his navigation room.

Coda eyed her clothes. "And from the looks of it it's not a moment too soon."

"Yeah." Lena looked down. All of her clothes had rips and holes in them from all of her training. It was surprising they got so much damage considering they only trained on the ship. "I guess I do need to get some new clothes. Unfortunately, I don't have much money so I won't be able to get much of anything."

"Don't worry about." Shanks stepped out on the deck. "You'll have plenty of money."

"How?"

"You're part of the crew. We all get a share of the treasures we find," Shanks said.

"Yeah. But you haven't found any since I've been onboard. We've only been sailing," Lena said.

"I said don't worry. You'll be taken care of." Grinning, Shanks patted her head. "Now be a good girl and go rest in a nice hot shower."

"Stop treating me like a child! Jerk!" Lena smacked his hand away. With a huff she stood and stomped to Shanks's room. In the bathroom she striped off her clothes and stepped under the showerhead. The water felt amazing as it relaxed her aching muscles. If only there was a tub on the ship. It would have been heaven if she could soak in a tub. But since that wouldn't happen she settled for what she got. Her shower didn't last long. Her leg muscles wouldn't allow it. After she dressed she collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

Lena had no idea how long she had slept. But as she started to wake she felt something warm beside her. She opened her eyes. Shanks's smiled greeted her. A scream ripped from her as she jerked away from him and fell off the bed with a hard thump. "Ouch. What the heck?! Why were you staring at me like that?!"

Shanks looked over the bed. "Because you're so cute when you sleep."

"That's no excuse! You shouldn't lay beside someone like that!"

"Why not? It's my bed." Shanks eyes shimmered.

Lena growled. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much. Just came to tell you we've docked."

"That soon?"  
"You've been asleep for four hours."

"Four hours?" Lena blinked.

"You must have been really tired. Think you can go shopping?"  
Lena nodded and stood.

"Okay. I've asked Ross to go with you."

"I don't need a babysitting," Lena said thinking he meant because of her harsh training.

"Have you forgotten already? You're new to the pirate life," Shanks said.

"Oh. Right. That." Lena dusted off her clothes and headed for the door.

The harbor was buzzing with life. People shouted at each other as they loaded and unloaded their cargo.

Lena shielded her eyes and glanced over everything. They really had docked. And it looked to be a very busy island.

"Let's go," Shanks said.

The crew descended the gangplank. Before she knew it they all had scattered. "That was fast."

"The crew often splits up when we dock," Ross said.

"Really? With how they made a beeline for the tavern back home I thought you all would go there."

"I can see how you'd think that. But as you can see it's not true." Ross smiled.

Lena nodded. Soon they entered the shopping district. As she shuffled through some clothes she said, "So why did you become a pirate?"

"It just kind of happened," Ross said. "I never wanted to be a pirate. But the captain managed to talk me into it."

"How did he do that?" Lena glanced at her escort.

"By being himself," Ross said. "You see, I come from a very strict family. They always turned up their noses at pirates and people like farmers."

"Are you a noble?" Lena asked.

"No. But my family is very rich," Ross said. "It was all formal wear and trying to be better than everyone else. When I saw the captain and how free he was…for the first time ever I realized how unhappy I was. I wanted to be a doctor, but it wasn't allowed. Then before I knew it I had ran away from home and became a pirate."

"Just like that?" Lena asked.

"Just like that." Ross nodded. "Not all pirates are pirates because they originally wanted to be. Some are like me and fell into it one way or another."

"Wow," Lena said. "I never would have guessed."

Ross smiled.

An hour later the two headed back to the ship. "Thanks for escorting me. And sorry about it."

"You don't have to apologize. We're crewmates now." Ross smiled. "Are you sure you don't want to do anything else?"  
"I'm sure. My body's still rather sore from training." Lena waved at him. "I'm going to stay on the ship. You go ahead and do what you need to do."

"All right then. Make sure you don't leave the ship." Ross turned and headed back to the island.

Lena went back to Shanks's room and put away her clothes before going back to the deck. Sitting down in a chair she soaked up some sun and listened to the busy harbor. At some point she had fallen asleep and woke to Shanks's smile. "Ack! Must you do that?!"

Shanks laughed. "I must."

"Jerk!" Lena swung a punch at him. He easily caught her and placed a staff in her hand.

"Here."

"Huh? You bought me a staff? Of sea prism stone?" Lena eyed the staff in her hand.

"That's right. You're not much of a fighter and you don't want to kill," Shanks said. "But you still need to defend yourself. I thought this would be best. And since it's made of sea prism stone those with devil fruit powers will hesitate to attack you."

"Thanks. I guess that makes sense."

"It's necessary. You need to be able to protect yourself if you get separated from us. Besides you're fast. Swinging this around will be easy for you once you get use to it."

"Fine. I'll accept this over a sword or other weapon with a blade." Lena slowly spun the staff in her hand. It was heavy but shouldn't cause her much trouble getting use to it.


	6. Confused Feelings

Confused Feelings

Lena cried out with raw determination as she ran towards Benn. Twirling her staff she brought it down towards his head before switching to a jutting movement in the last second. The staff slammed into Benn's stomach.

"Oof!" Benn bent slightly but quickly caught himself. He grabbed the staff and shoved her back.

Lena stumbled backwards and fell onto her back. A few leaves from the trees above her broke from their limbs and floated down to the ground.

"Not bad. You've improved," Benn said.

"Thanks." Her chest heaved up and down. It was true. However, she still had a long ways to go until she was on par with the crew. Sometimes she felt like it was an unattainable goal.

"I think that's enough for today," Benn said. "How's your body?"

"Fine. I'm not as tired as I use to be," Lena said.

"Good." Benn nodded before the two heading back to the ship.

Once on deck Lena noticed the absence of the crew. She about headed for Shanks's room when she spotted Coda wandering into his room. She walked up the stairs and stepped into the open door way. "Where'd the crew go?"

"Not sure," Coda said from his desk. "Some went into town, I think. And I think a few went to check out a rumor about treasure having been abandoned on the island somewhere."

"I see."

"So you're done?" Coda cast her a glance from over his tin rimed glasses.

"For the day." Lena studied the man. She still knew little about him other than he was the navigator and wore glasses while working on maps. "Mind if I ask you why you became a pirate and why it was Shanks's crew you chose?"

"I don't mind at all. I always wanted to be a pirate," Coda said as he continued working. "I want to map out the whole world and help others sail the seas, even the New World waters. As for how I ended up with the Captain…Well, he came looking for me. When he offered me the position as navigator I took it. Not a very dramatic story, huh?"

Lena twisted her lips. It wasn't dramatic.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot." Coda looked up at her. "The captain wants us to come meet him for supper at the local tavern."

Lena growled. "Than man. I swear at this point in time he only goes there to annoy me."

Coda laughed. "I wouldn't doubt that."

…

Lena walked quietly along side Coda as they headed for the tavern. She really didn't want to go. But she knew if she didn't Shanks would come and drag her there. Best to go and get it over with and rush back to the ship at the right moment. "How far is this place?"

"Another block," Coda said.

"Hn." Lena's heart clenched when the tavern came into view. She wanted to look away from them but wasn't able to. Shanks was sitting on a barrel outside of a tavern. A curvy woman was draped against him. Her long black hair was draped over her shoulders but did nothing to hide her ample breasts her dress was showing off.

"I've always loved red hair." The woman trailed her fingers through Shanks's hair. "And yours is the brightest I'd ever seen. So beautiful."

"You think so?" Shanks chuckled.

"I know so." The woman sat on Shanks's lap. "How about we go somewhere a little more private?"  
Lena spun around. She refused to hear Shanks's answer. She knew what it was. He was a man after all. No man in their right mind would turn down a woman like that. The woman was beautiful. Nothing like herself.

"Lena!" Coda called.

But Lena didn't stop. She rushed through the crowds, desperate to get away but having nowhere to really go. She broke into a run, losing track of the man who was supposed to be escorting her.

Her run slowed to a walk a few minutes later. Her mind spun as through the night swallowed up the day. Despite not wanting to she wondered about her feelings and Shanks. Back on her home island…she thought she loved him. She thought he loved her. But did they really? Or was it only mere attraction? Or maybe it was just a crush? Nothing more than a passing fancy with each other?

"Lena! There you are?! Why did you run off like that?" Coda's voice broke into her ears as he grabbed her arm. "What is with you? You know you're not supposed to wander off on your own. Come on."

"Sorry." Lena refused to look at him with fear he would read her like a book. He was right there. Didn't he see his captain and that woman? "I just needed to walk."

"I get that. Sometimes a person needs their alone time. But you're not safe to go off on your own yet." Coda released her and shoved his hands in his pockets. "We should head back. We're leaving tomorrow after all."

"Yeah. But I'm not feeling very well. Can you take me back to the ship?" Lena nodded.

"If that's what you want."

"It is." She followed him back to the ship.

"But sure to stay on the ship. I'll let the captain know you're not feeling well." Coda waved to her and headed back towards the town.

Lena cleaned the ship a little to try and distract herself. Nothing helped. The whole thing was just so stupid. She should be feeling so confused, should she?

For the whole night Shanks didn't come back to the ship. The crew had come back, a few by themselves, some in small groups. But Shanks never came. And no one said why. They didn't have to. The way he was drooling over that woman…it was obvious where he was.

Lena stared at his side of the bed. There was more than a physical emptiness in the room. She forced her eyes shut and rolled to her other side so her back was to his side of the bed.

…

It was at breakfast when Shanks had finally arrived back at the ship. He greeted the crew heartily then sat down beside her. "Good morning, my dear."

"Captain." Lena nodded, unable to meet his eyes.

"Captain?" Shanks blinked. The clanking of dishes stopped as everyone looked up. "You're awfully formal this morning."

Gathering her empty dishes, she shrugged and stood. "You are the captain." Lena placed her dishes in the sink and headed out to the deck where she pulled her staff from her back and started training alone.

…

Over the next couple of weeks Lena did everything she could to avoid personal contact with Shanks. Sharing the same bedroom was a bit tricky, but she managed to get into bed before he did then rise before or after he had. So far he hadn't force what was bothering her out of her. Of course being constantly on the go with training or learning from Ross it didn't give him much time to do anything with her.

"I know. It's weird. I can't believe how distant she has become from the captain."

Lena paused outside of the galley to listen to the men.

"Do you think something happened between them?"  
"I doubt it. The captain said they didn't have a fight. He's as clueless as we are."

"Don't worry about it. They'll make up soon enough. Then everything will be back to normal. Things will also get better when we dock at Foosha."

"That's right. We'll get to see Luffy again. I wonder if he's still saying he's going to be a pirate."

"Luffy? Who's that?" Lena proceeded down the hall. She'd learn who it was soon enough. Perhaps this Luffy was going to be a new crewmate.

…

Lena was rolling bandages in the infirmary when a noise from outside broke her concentration. They had landed at Foosha Village but hadn't gone ashore yet. Standing she headed for the door. "What's going on out here?" Stepping outside she blinked away the sun and found a young boy standing on the railing with a knife in hand. "Who's that?"  
"I am brave!" the boy said. "And I can prove it!"

Lena gasped when the boy jammed the knife into his face, under his left eye.

"Luffy!" Shanks shouted.

Lena barely heard him as she raced over to the boy. She grabbed the knife away from him and tossed it away. "What were you thinking?! Why did you do that?!"

Blood leaked down the boy's face. "I was proving I'm brave and strong."

"Idiot! You didn't prove that at all! All you did was hurt yourself!" Lena grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him towards the infirmary. She shot a glare at the crew. "And you! How dare you let a child get a hold of a knife! You should be ashamed!"

"Hey! We didn't allow-" Shanks started but Lena cut him off by slamming the door closed.

Guiding the boy into a chair Lena grabbed cleaning solution, thread, and a needled then sat down in front of him. "Men."

"Who are you? I don't remember you bring on Shanks's crew," the boy said.

"I'm Lena. I joined, sort of, several months ago." Lena cleaned the wound and numbed it so she could stitch it up. Once that was done she placed her hand on his cheek and used her gift on him. "So who are you?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" The boy grinned. "And I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

"Luffy, huh?" So this was who the crew was talking about. Only a child. No way he would be a new crewmember.

"I see you have everything handled." Ross entered into the room and checked her work. "Very good. You did well."

"I did what I could. He's going to have a scar though," Lena said.

"That's fine with me! It'll show everyone how tough I am!" Luffy smiled proudly.

"Idiot." Lena knocked him on the head with her fist, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to do any damage. "Don't ever do something that stupid again."

"Hey! Don't hit me!" Luffy snapped.

"You're lucky that's all I did." Lena put up her stuff then headed back outside with the two boys. The crew was ready to head inland. Shanks was holding a box under his arm. Her eyes went to it. It was a devil fruit he had come across during their travels. He one day returned to the ship with it. But no one ate it. Why no one ate it she didn't know. She could only assume he was keeping it for specific reason. Though she didn't ask. And why he was taking it ashore she had no idea. Shrugging it off she headed down the gangplank.

…

"Wow! I never would have guessed that Shanks would have a woman on his crew!"

Lena stared at the green haired woman standing behind the bar. Her name was Makino, a friend of the Red Hair Pirates. "Yeah. I'm still getting use to the idea too."

"I can understand that." Makino smiled. "I've know these pirates for some years now. They can be rather rowdy. I hope you're doing find on the crew."

"I'm managing." Lena took a sip of her juice.

"Don't let her fool you." Shanks sat down beside her. "She's doing great!"

"I'm glad to hear it. I hope you're planning on staying a few days," Makino said.

"We are." Shanks nodded.

"Speaking of which, I need a hotel room," Lena said. "I would like some time to myself while I have the chance. Is there one in town?"

"Of course. There's one down the road," Makino said.

"That's not a problem with you, Captain?" Lena asked but didn't look at him.

"That's fine." Shanks sighed. "This is a small island so not many pirates land here. You don't have to have an escort. But do stay in town."

"As you wish, Captain." Lena finished her drink then left the bar. As Makino said she found the hotel just down the street. She rented a room and stayed there for the rest of the night.

…

The next day Lena watched the unexpected scene unfold before her. A gang of mountain bandits had came into the Party Bar. And they were causing trouble since the pirates had drank the place dry. It was obvious the bandits wanted to cause trouble, and they did. The head mountain bandit pulled his sword and sliced the bottles and the counter top before leaving with his men.

"What's wrong with you all?!" Luffy shouted a few seconds after the crew started laughing about the whole incident. "You should have fought them! You're not a man!"

"Luffy, there's nothing to get upset about." Shanks sat on the floor with the broken glass as Makino wiped the booze off him the best she could.

"Whatever." Luffy sat back down at the bar.

Lena's eyes drifted back to Shanks. The man was by far the strangest she had ever met. She never knew when he would fight and when he would sit there and take it like he did right now. Her eyes dropped to her juice.

"You shouldn't eat in anger," Shanks said. "Hey! What are you eating?"

Lena glanced up to find Shanks holding Luffy by his ankles. He was shaking the boy and telling him to "Spit it out". She wondered what Shanks was talking about. Then she remembered the fruit. The devil fruit was gone from the box. "Oh crap!"

Luffy's neck stretched out, his face slammed into the floor. The young boy had eaten the Gum Gum devil fruit.

"Shanks!" Lena jumped to her feet and stomped over to him. "Stop yelling at him! It's your fault!"

"My fault?!" Shanks released the boy and turned to her. "It isn't my fault! _He_ ate the devil fruit!"

"You're the one who brought it off the ship!" Lena snapped.

Shanks flinched before shouting back at her. "So what?! I'm the captain! I can bring anything I want off the ship!"

Lena gripped her fists. Of course he was right. But that didn't mean he had the right to be stupid like this. Unable to find words she spun on her heels and left the bar. She didn't see him or any other crew for the rest of the day.

…

The next day Lena drug herself from the hotel room long after morning had come and gone. She wasn't in the mood to see the crew, especially Shanks, but she knew she needed to make an appearance so they didn't come rushing to find her. Much to her surprise the bar was empty. Makino wasn't even around. "That's odd."

Lena was walking down the street when she heard a gun shot. She raced towards the noise, thinking the crew got themselves into another fight. A minute later she found them gathered together with Makino and an old man she didn't recognize. "What's going on?"  
"Lena, I was wondering when you'd show up," Coda said.

"What happened?" Lena looked around. The mountain bandits, minus their leader, was lying on the ground unconscious, or dead. "Where's the captain?"

"He ran off. Luffy apparently was trying to fight the mountain bandits himself," Coda said. "The leader grabbed Luffy and ran with the help of a smoke bomb. The captain went to find him."

"And you all are just standing here?" Lena asked.

"Not like we know where to look," Yasopp said.

"Get looking!" Lena snapped.

"Yes, ma'am!" The crew ran off.

"Wow. That was impressive," Makino said.

"I can't believe they were standing around doing nothing. I might as well look too. See you later." Lena ran off and somehow managed to end up at the beach. She spotted Coda on the beach as well. He had his binoculars out. "What are you doing?"  
"Looking for the captain and Luffy," Coda said. "Someone's out at sea. They're swimming in."

"Swimming." Lena watched a small dark spot until it formed into familiar red hair. It was Shanks. He was carrying Luffy. "Shanks!"

Coda and Lena rushed out to the water. She gasped upon seeing his missing arm.

"Take Luffy out of the water," Shanks said.

"Right." Coda took the crying boy.

Shanks stood up and stumbled.

Lena grabbed him and placed his arm around her shoulders. "What happened?!"

"Nothing much. Just had a little spat with a sea king." Shanks chuckled.

"A spat?! You're arm is gone, you moron!" Once they reached the sand Shanks crumbled. She placed her hands over his stump and did her best to stop the bleeding. "He's losing too much blood!"

"Don't let him die! You can't let him die!" Luffy wailed.

"Don't worry, Luffy," Coda said. "The captain's not going to die."

The rest of the crew appeared. With their help they moved their captain back to the ship where Ross started surgery. Lena helped assist, doing whatever the doctor asked her to do.

"There. He'll be coming around any minute." Ross whipped the blood from his hands.

Lena nodded and helped clean up the blood around the room.

A few minutes later Shanks woke up.

"Take it easy, Captain," Ross said. "You lost quite a lot of blood. You'll be fine though. Lena, go ahead and continued healing him."

"Right." Lena held her hands over the stump, unaware that Ross left the infirmary. _I can't believe he actually did that. He sacrificed his arm like it was nothing. All for one reckless boy. I know it was his choice…but he favors his left arm when fighting with his sword. Will he really be that comfortable fighting with his right? This guy…_ She glanced at Shanks. His dark eyes were locked onto the floor. _He's so hard to figure out. I was so angry with him. But now…I don't know. I'm so confused about everything._ Her eyes stung with tears. She tried to hold back her sobs but they slipped out from her anyway. An arm wrapped around her, pulling her flush against a strong chest. "You idiot. Why did you do that? Your arm…"

"Shh." Shanks gave her a squeeze. "It's all right. Like I told Luffy, it's just an arm. I have another one. Things will be different but I won't be helpless. This won't stop me at all."

Lena nodded, though she still had her doubts.

Over the next couple of days Shanks and Lena spent a little time with each other, though neither spoke much. Some tension and doubt still lingered between them, both waiting for the words that hadn't been spoken yet.

Lena placed her elbows on the railing and rested her chin in her hands. The crew was loading supplies onto the ship while Shanks was saying goodbye to Luffy. They had spent an extra six days at Foosha Village so Shanks could recover more from his injury. Now it was time for them to leave. She was about to turn and help get the supplies in place when she saw Shanks passed his hat over to the young boy. "Why did he…?"

Shanks climbed upon the ship. He stood beside Lena as the ship pulled away from the island.

Lena watched him until he walked away. After he had disappeared in the ship she helped the crew move their supplies to where they needed to go. Things fell back into their normal pace after that. She was watching the moon rise when Shanks had appeared beside her.

He leaned back against the railing, calm as always. "You doing okay now?"

"Yeah." Lena shrugged. Her mind jumped back to the infirmary when he hugged her. She had cried a lot, for two hours in fact. And he never pulled away from her nor complained about it. While they were no longer fighting they still weren't talking like they usually do. Every time she wanted to that black haired curvy woman jumped back into her mind.

"I didn't sleep with her."

"Huh? Who?"

Shanks chuckled. "You know exactly who. I saw you that night. It hurt you that she was flirting with me."

"I wasn't hurt," Lena lied. "You're a free man. You can do whatever you like, even sleep with whoever you like."

"It's so cute how you try to lie to me. I saw the hurt in your eyes." Shanks took her chin in his fingers and turned her to look at him.

Lena parted her lips to protest him touching her but was silenced with his lips over hers. "Hm?" Heat rushed to her face. She knew the crew would laugh but if they were she couldn't hear them. Everything but the two of them seemed to fade away completely. Her mind screamed at her to push him away but her body wouldn't listen. Instead her body felt out for his touch. His kiss was warm, slow, tender. Obviously Shanks was in no hurry to break their kiss.

Seconds, maybe minutes, passed before he finally stopped kissing her. His breath fanned over her skin as he spoke. "You don't have to worry about any other woman. My heart has belonged to you for months now. Don't ever forget that."

He walked away then, taking his body heat with him. Lena's, however, continued to blush as her mind swirled with even more confusion that before. Her heart squeezed. It became hard to breath. Part of her wanted to run to him, to hold him, to have him kiss her again. But her more rational part held her firmly in place, shoving doubt after doubt into her mind.

There was only one thing that was certain. This whole situation was nothing but torture.


	7. Grand Line

Grand Line

A guttural scream ripped through Lena as she swung her staff towards the man charging her. Her arms vibrated with the contact but she pushed through her attack and flung the man towards Benn. "Here he comes!"

"Right!" Benn took his stance. The man fell towards him. Once close enough he punched the falling man in the gut, knocking him out and probably breaking multiple ribs.

"You'll pay for that! We won't be taken down by a woman!" Another pirate charged her. He was followed by four others.

Lena gritted her teeth and waited until they were close enough. Then she bent backwards and swung her staff around, clipping them all on the jaw. Next she kicked them in the stomach before gunshots rang out. A bullet planted in each of their bodies. Yasopp had helped her out. She wanted to give him a nod of thanks but another pirate came towards her.

This guy was twice her size. He swung his fists at her.

"He's fast!" Lena dodged a punch and tried to swing at him.

He grabbed her staff. "Is that all you got, little girl?"

Lena's heart hammered as his fist swung towards her. Without the use of her staff she was virtually defenseless. She was going to be knocked out, or killed. Shanks missing arm flashed into her mind. Determination bubbled inside of her. "No! I won't let something like that happen again!"

Lena pulled back her free hand. A black coating flowered over it, her other hand, and her staff. She slammed her fist into his stomach before Coda brought down a hard kick to the man's shoulder.

Coda then gave the man another kick and shoved him away from her. "Nice! You've got armament haki!"

"Wow." Lena inspected the darkness coating her fists and staff. "This is really armament haki."

"It sure is. Congratulations, Lena," Shanks said as he walked over to her. The fight was over. "You've really improved."

"Looks like we'll have to step up your training," Yasopp said.

"Oh." Lena's shoulders slumped. "That's nice."

The crew laughed.

"You're really starting to live up to your bounty," Shanks said.

"That's hard to believe when I haven't earned it. I never wanted a bounty in the first place. I only have one because I'm on your crew." Lena stuck her staff back into its holder on her back. It was true. She hadn't done anything to actually gain a bounty. Someone had taken pictures of her with the crew and the navy slapped a sixteen million berri bounty on her. It wasn't really surprising. Shanks and his crew were strong, one of the strongest crew on the Grand Line. It was fairly rare to find other pirates or navy soldiers who could actually cause problems for them.

"Though you still have a long way to go." Shanks leaned in close to her and smiled. "You still scream like a girl."

"I am a girl!" Lena snapped.

"You need to be a stronger girl." Shanks pat her head. "No more screaming like you did going up Reverse Mountain. But I am here any time you need to cling to me."

"Jerk! It's not like I planned that! I didn't know the ocean could flow up a mountain!" Lena smacked his hand away and stomped off. Growling she thought back to that day. The day they had entered the Grand Line.

_"What the heck?!" Lena stumbled backwards then grabbed onto Shanks as the ship rushed up the current. "This is insane!"_

_ "Don't worry, my love." Shanks laughed and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I'm right here. Hold on to me as much as you'd like."_

_ "Shut up!" Lena snapped. "This isn't funny!"_

_ "It is too funny," Yasopp said. "I can't believe you're having trouble with this."_

_ "Shut up!" Lena growled. She eyed the crew. They all were enjoying the massive rush up the mountain. It didn't make sense, the mountain that is. The ocean was running up the mountainside. It was mindboggling. She wanted it to be over._

_ After several minutes of clinging to Shanks they reached the top. The ship touched the sky. The sun shone bright over the clouds. It was a breathtaking sight. Though it was a shame she couldn't enjoy it as the ship shot down the other side._

After that the crew continued on, stopping on island after island making a name for themselves.

That's where they were now. Another island. Another pirate crew trying to make a name for themselves by taking down the famed, or rather infamous, Red Hair Pirates.

None of them came close.

"Well, at least that's done," Lucky Roo said. "Now we can go back into town and hit up the tavern."

"Not a moment too soon from the looks of it," Ross said. "The sun's setting."

Lena looked to the sky. It had already turned a golden reddish color. The fight had taken all afternoon. Her stomach rumbled. "Let's get something to eat. Then I'm going to bed."

"So soon?" Coda asked.

"Yes." Lena nodded.

"How about I join you in bed then?" Shanks put his arm around her.

"Not happening." Normally she would have shoved his arm off her. But lately she didn't. She wanted him to touch her.

Unfortunately, those moments never lasted long. Something always caused them to pull apart. This time it was food. They sat down in the restaurant a few blocks down from their hotel and spoke about their victory as they ate.

As soon as she was done Ross offered to walk her back to her room. She was grateful for it and for him relieving her from the crew's drinking over their victory. After showering Lena fell onto the bed with a sigh. It didn't take long for sleep to take her over. Her eyelids fell closed and she was sound asleep.

Lena didn't know what it was that woke her up, but something did. Before she could look around the moonlit room something covered her mouth. Hands grabbed onto her before she could move and pinned her to the bed. Her heart jumped into her throat. Someone from the crew they had defeated must have come back for revenge.

"Don't fight," a voice said. "Just sleep."

Lena struggled but found herself falling back asleep. _What's going on? Why am I so tired? Oh no! I'm being drugged! But why?! Who's doing this?! Fight it! Use your healing abilities!_

"That's not going to work," he said. "I know all about your little gift. I have researched it well. You know it's true. You can feel yourself succumbing to the sleeping tonic."

Lena's heart raced. This guy was right. She wasn't able to fight whatever this tonic was. Her mind started to become haze. She needed to think. She needed her staff. But her staff was out of her reach. Besides there were at least two men holding her down, maybe more. She wasn't sure as her mind became more and more clouded.

"Sleep, my sweet little child." The man's breath fanned over her skin causing her to shiver. "It'll be all over soon."

_Shanks!_ Tears rolled over her lids before they closed.

…

"Come on, Lena." Yasopp knocked on her door again. "Aren't you awake yet?" No answer came so he grabbed the knob and found it unlocked. "That's odd. I know she locked her hotel doors. I'm coming in."

The sniper stepped into the room. Glancing around the walked over to the bathroom thinking she was in there. But she wasn't. She was just gone. He turned to go tell the captain what he had found but stopped when his boot bumped against something. A small bottle rolled across the floor. Picking it up he took a sniff. Light headedness washed over him. His heart hammered and dashed for his captain. "Captain!"

"What's up? Where's Lena?" Shanks asked when the man rushed up to him.

"She's gone!" Yasopp said.

"What do you mean?"  
"She's not in her room. Her stuff is there but she's not," Yasopp said.

"That's not like her," Ross said.

Shanks gritted his teeth.

"And I found this in the room." Yasopp held up the small bottle. "I think it's some form of sleeping tonic."

Ross took the bottle and examined it. "You're right."

"Why would Lena have something like that with her?" Coda asked.

"She wouldn't." Ross shook his head. "I hate to say it but it looks like someone took her."

"What?!" The crew gasped.

Shanks gritted his teeth. "Go! Fine her! Fine someone who might have seen anything!"

"Aye, Captain!" The crew dashed from the hotel.


	8. Pain & Trust

Pain & Trust

Lena woke to pain shooting through her body. Her veins felt like they were on fire. Her head pounded from the tonic used on her. She tried to blink the blurriness from her eyes but it persisted. But that didn't stop her from listening. Several people were walking around her.

"She's stable. Everything is going well," a woman said.

"Perfect." That voice she recognized. It was the man who spoke to her in her hotel room. "Make sure she doesn't die. Well, at least not until this is over."

Lena swallowed, finding her mouth dry. What was happening to her? What did this guy want from her?

"She's coming around," another man said.

"Good," the familiar man said.

A moment later a blurry face came in her view. Second by second her vision cleared and she was able to get a clearer view of him. And it was a shock. For a moment she thought she might have been looking in a mirror, but it wasn't. There was no mirror. The man before her really looked like her. His eyes and hair were the exact same as hers. Her eyes widened.

"Surprise," he said. "It's been so long since we've last seen you."

Confusion and question filled Lena's expression.

The man chuckled. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me. You were only a small child when we last saw each other." He reached out and stroked the back of his hand on her cheek. "My name is Lane. I am your father."

Lena's mind spun. She must have misheard him. Her father? He said his name was Lane. The same letters were used in her name. She tried to recall what her grandfather said her dad's name was. She couldn't. It was rare for her grandfather to use her dad's name.

"Let's cut to the chase," Lane said. "I brought you here because I'm interested in your healing ability. I want it. I've spent years doing research on how to extract this ability from you. And finally I found it."

"But…why?"

"Why? It should be obvious. A gift like yours can make the wielder very rich. I could be the personal doctor of the Celestial Dragons!" Lane threw his hands in the air and laughed. "Imagine the possibilities! I might even become one!"

_This guy's insane._ Lena gritted her teeth. _I see now what Grandpa never spoke about him, assuming he's telling the truth about being my father._

"I was hoping your mother would help me in the past. But sadly she refused." Lane sighed and shook his head. "She was weak and worthless. I'm so glad I killed her."

Lena's heart seized up. "Wh-what?"

"Oh? Didn't that worthless grandfather of yours tell you?" Lane smiled darkly. "It was me. I'm responsible for your mother's dead."

"No…you're…you're lying." Tears stung her eyes.

"I'm not." Lane shook his head. "She, unfortunately, didn't like my tests I did on you. We ended up in a fight that took her life. Sadly, she managed to injure me quite a badly. So when your grandfather arrived I was unable to fight against him. A stubbornly strong one he was. With the help of some friends he managed to kick me off the island. When I managed to get back there I was unable to find you. That old bat had moved you to another island."

Lena blinked. She didn't remember moving to another island. But then that wasn't surprising. There were some blank spots in her memories for whatever reason. Maybe she was too young to remember.

"Imagine my shock when I picked up a newspaper and found you had joined a pirate crew," Lane said. "And since the goal of pirates are all the same all I had to do is wait for you to come here. Most pirate ships dock on this island while heading for Sabaody. Then all I had to do was wait until you were alone and vulnerable. I'll have to remember to thank that pirate crew for wearing you out."

"What?!"

"That's right. The pirates you fought before going to be were on my pay role. Well, they _were_ on my pay role. When the battle was over I checked them. Most were already dead thanks to your crew, but some were still alive…until I finished them off. Now I can keep that money I was going to pay them. So thank you for killing them."

"No…it wasn't me. I don't…I won't kill," Lena said.

"If you say so." Lane stepped away. "Relax now. It's time to proceed with the procedure."

"You won't get away with this." Lena struggled against her restraints. "Shanks and his crew will come."

"I'm not worried." Lane waved his hand. "I have plenty of loyal devil fruit users. Your crew will be long dead before they get to this facility."

"You're wrong! Shanks and the crew will-Ah!" Pain vibrated through Lena's body. The tubes connected to her filled with a glowing red liquid that poured through her veins.

…

Shanks and the crew ran through the trees. One of his scouts had found someone who saw a couple men moving through the night carrying something that looked like a body. In the dirt they found footprints. Whoever took Lena didn't care much about covering their tracks. A trap or an ambush. He had no doubts. It was either that or whoever took her was very arrogant.

Several minutes later they came to an opening in the trees. Several men stood around with smirks. Before anything could be said the men transformed.

"Zoan type devil fruits," Benn said. "Wonderful."

The pirates charged. A flurry of attacks were exchanged. Iron filled the air. Battle cries and shouts rose to the sky. If any animals were around they had scattered by now.

Shanks swung his sword. Heart aching he hacked his way through the devil fruit users. One of the devil fruit users, a bear, slammed a paw in the captain's face. His body went spinning through the air before he crash landed on the ground. Picking himself up he glared at the bear man. "I would let you stop me from getting to Lena!"

Shanks shot forward, slicing away once more.

…

Lena continued to scream. The red liquid had finally made it through her whole body. She wanted to black out, to die if it would stop the pain.

"It's working!"

Through distorted vision, Lena noticed a light green glow coming out of more tubes that had been connected to her at some point. Coldness seeped into her body as more of the green glow filled the tubes.

"Ready when you are."

"Good." Lane laid down on a bed next to Lena's. The lady moved around and attacked tubes to his arms. The green glow headed towards him.

Lena felt her consciousness slipping away. She was going to die unless Shanks arrived soon.

A distant bang rang in her head. Words mixed together as things were knocked to the ground.

"No!" Lane screamed. There was more scuffling and thinks hitting the floor before everything went silence.

"Now die."

Lena had heard Shanks. Then the familiar sound of a blade running through flesh reached her ears before he finally appeared in her vision.

Shanks smiled. "Hey, you." He shifted aside so Ross could safely remove all the tubes that had been attached to her then helped her sit up.

With a tired sigh Lena rested her head against his shoulder. "I knew…you'd come."

"Of course. Now rest. We can talk later."

Lena nodded and gave into sleep.

Shanks pressed a kiss to her forehead before letting Coda carry her back to the ship.

"Will she be all right?" Coda asked.

"I think so. I won't know for sure until we can have her use her abilities," Ross said while rubbing salve on the burns that spotted Lena's skin. "It didn't look like that guy succeeded in his plans. The green glow went back into her body. So she should be fine."

"I'm glad. I'll inform the crew of this." Coda left the room.

After Ross finished bandaging Lena up he placed a hand on Shanks's shoulder. "She'll be fine. She's a fighter whether she wants to admit it or not. Try and get some rest yourself."

"I'll be fine." Shanks nodded. He wasn't going to leave Lena all night. And he didn't. He stayed right by her side until he fell asleep.

…

Lena opened her eyes to a wooden ceiling. The pain in her body had subsided a lot but was still there in an annoying throb. "What…?"

Soft snoring pulled her attention to her right. Shanks was sleeping in a chair beside the bed.

"Oh…yeah. He and the crew came for me." Closing her eyes she took a breath. "I knew it." Reopening her eyes she struggled to it up. Pain shot through her body causing her to yip.

"Huh?" Shanks opened his eyes. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be up."

"I'm…okay." Lena huffed.

"You're so stubborn." Shanks placed his hand on her back to help stabilize her.

"I guess…you know now?" Lena asked. "Did he tell you?"  
"Yeah. He told us you were his daughter so he had a right to take your healing abilities."

"He killed my mom." Lena closed her eyes to stop tears from coming.

"Oh. He didn't say anything about that. I'm sorry."

Lena shook her head. "It's okay. Not like anything can be done about it now."

"He won't bother you anymore."

"I figured that."

"You going to be okay?"

Lena lifted her hand. Her glow engulfed her palm. "I think so."

Shanks's hand covered hers. "I wasn't talking about your abilities."

"I know." Lena curled her fingers over his skin. "And, yes, I'll be okay." She smiled at him. "Because I know you'll always be there for me no matter what."

Shanks's eyebrows rose.

Lena cupped his cheek before taking a hold of his shirt. She pulled him closer and kissed him.


End file.
